Census Reaction

Published 6:00 am, Sunday, February 20, 2011

The Herald e-mailed numerous city leaders Friday asking for their thoughts on Census results for Plainview. Not everyone responded in written form. Below are their unedited responses:

Bill Coleman

Hale County judge

•Are you surprised at any of the findings? Why?

I’m not surprised that we have lost population over the last decade. The demographic trends over the past 30 years have been growth in Texas cities and decline in rural areas.

•What does this mean for Plainview/Hale County?

•What should we do with this information?

We should study it and learn. We should look at other cities our size who grew during that period and see what they did to attract new businesses or residents. Over the next 10 years some counties in Texas will grow while others decline. Our challenge is to combine our collective efforts and bolster our support for the Industrial Foundation to make our communities attractive to new businesses and residents.

Growth begins with an attitude and a vision for the future. Dave Ramsey says, “The difference between a dream and a goal is a plan.” We need to dream of a better future then set goals and develop a plan to achieve them.

Jim Rathke

General Manager

Cargill Meat Solutions, Plainview

It's not surprising that both Lubbock and Amarillo have grown, while the smaller communities continue to shrink. It has been my observation over the years that towns with a population larger than 25,000 have a tendency to grow, and they typically grow exponentially basis size, i.e. cities over 200,000 have a tendency to grow at a faster rate than cities that are less than 200,000. Hale Center seems to be the anomaly, and it probably relates to its relative closeness to Plainview and the fact that it has a new High School. It has been demonstrated over and over again, including our area, that new, progressive school systems draw population.

Plainview is an interesting story. The Cargill facility employees approximately 200 more people today (2,050 employees) vs. ten years ago (1,850 employees). If each employee equals 4 citizens in a community, then the Cargill facility has theoretically brought in 400 more citizens into the area over the last 10 years. I cannot speak on behalf of the rest of manufacturing and businesses in Plainview.

I think Plainview has to decide at some point in time what it wants to become. My desire would be to see Plainview take the position to try and grow. I think the Plainview community is great, I am extremely grateful for what it has/and continues to provide to me and my family, and it is truly an honor to live here. However, it is my opinion that if Plainview does not grow, then it will start to shrink, and shrink at a faster rate than what most of us would project. Today we are having more and more people commute from Lubbock and Amarillo to work at the Cargill plant, including professionals. Commuting is getting easier to do each day, and people are desiring the amenities that larger cities provide. If we don't take action today to leverage the advantages of what a small community provides, and offer some of the amenities of what larger cities provide, then we are at risk of seeing Plainview and Hale County decrease in population at a greater rate than what we have seen.

The number one opportunity that Plainview has, in my opinion, is to upgrade its schools, starting with a new high school. Young professionals starting their families want to live in a community that is progressive in its education system. If Plainview does not take this step, then it will not grow. It is that simple. If Plainview does not grow, I believe that it will shrink. I don't think that Plainview will continue to stay constant in its current population. If Plainview upgraded its school system, worked on cleaning up the trash around town, updated its parks and recreation areas, and offered a few more options from a retail and dining perspective, then I think Plainview has an excellent opportunity to grow. We have great health care facilities, we have great financial services, we have plenty of professional services available, we have wonderful and plentiful places of worship, we have a solid infrastructure, and we have plenty of room to grow if we wanted to. There are more reasons to grow than to shrink, but we need to get more aggressive in our approach to our future. We have been on the bubble for several years. I'm afraid that we are at a critical juncture regarding the future of Plainview, and it's time to make some decisions. If we choose not to make these decisions, then the future of Plainview is not going to be a very progressive one.

Greg Ingham

City Manager

Plainview

•Are you surprised at any of the findings? Why?

No, while we felt like there had been a population dip during the decade, we did not see anything that indicated it was as great as the Census Bureau was projecting (for example a population of 21,252 in 2008 which would have been a 4.9% decline). We agreed with the change in population they showed that indicated we were showing some growth in 2009 - we were just starting at two different points. We felt like the information we were looking at indicated we were going to be pretty close to a breakeven point over the ten years and that is where we hit. While we would obviously have preferred to be on the positive side, a 0.6% decline is pretty close to staying even and when you look at the nature of the population shifts in the majority of the counties in our part of the state we feel that Plainview has held up very well.

•What do the findings mean for Plainview/Hale County?

It means that the efforts that Plainview and Hale County have made to keep trying to generate jobs, focus our efforts to help improve our communities, and lay the groundwork for future success - have helped us maintain a fairly stable population base. I believe this gives us a good foundation to keep working together to build a stronger community.

As you know, we are working closely with our Industrial Foundation, Chamber of Commerce, and County to find ways to provide support to our existing industry and retailers, while working to generate more opportunities in terms of new industry and retail opportunities. The City is also addressing long term infrastructure needs such as working with CRMWA to acquire and develop additional water supplies, work with TxDOT on the reconstruction of Highway 70, building new water towers, and making other significant infrastructure improvements. Making sure that we have a solid infrastructure in place is critical to not only the quality of life today, but assuring that we are prepared to take advantage of opportunities for growth that we may generate in the future.

I believe that Plainview is in a good position. We have the opportunity to help shape our future so long as we keep looking forward, planning the course we believe we need to follow, and working together to accomplish those goals. Right now we are living in challenging times and there is often an inclination to pull back and be conservative, however I think it is a good time to move forward and take advantage of the opportunities that are out there.

Alan N. King

Chief Executive Officer

Covenant Hospital Plainview

•Are you surprised at any of the findings? Why?

The decrease in population is surprising. We have very strong monthly birth numbers at the hospital. I have met many new residents in the community and I felt we were experiencing a growth increase.

•What do the findings mean for Plainview/Hale County?

We definitely need to stimulate opportunities to attract families to Plainview and the surrounding communities. The environment of this community speaks to young families as a place to live.

•Now that we have it, what should we do with this information?

Once we get over the initial shock of the findings, the community must rally its leaders to prioritize steps to attract families and business to our community. Plainview has a strong history of stepping up with plans for community betterment but now we need to develop population growth that takes us to the next level and into the future.

•Any other thoughts?

I am making physician recruitment the top priority, hopefully physicians with large families! Bringing in healthcare providers increases the employment opportunities.

Brian Pohlmeier

President and CEO

Hale County State Bank

•Are you surprised at any of the findings? Why?

No the final numbers are probably in line with where I thought they would be for Plainview. I am surprised by the percentage loss in Floydada and Lockney.

I was actually afraid the Plainview decline could have been higher. When you look around Plainview and see the number of businesses that have closed this last decade, it means all of these jobs and people have gone somewhere else.

•What do the findings mean for Plainview/Hale County?

A good bit of the issues in our area are governed by water. In having worked with the Plainview Hale County Industrial Foundation we have had opportunity to recruit various businesses. Those that have a water intensive need either shy away from our region or we have not pursued because of their water needs. Our city planners have done a good job of ensuring water needs for our community through the CRMWA but it has its limits on what it can deliver. Finding Industrial Businesses to come to Plainview that also have low water needs is a tough challenge. One that has promise in this next decade is that of Wind and Solar.

•Now that we have it, what should we do with this information?

Because of Plainview's location between Lubbock and Amarillo and sitting on I-27 we will weather this overall decline better than the other Non Metro communities in the Panhandle / South Plains. Plainview is very fortunate to have large stable employers - Cargill, Wal Mart Distribution / Retail, Azteca, Wayland and a host of smaller industrial companies. This is the backbone of what is keeping Plainview from having similar population declines experienced in other towns. We need to keep a focus on these businesses to make sure that all opportunities are explored to help them with expansion of existing operations. Every job added by these large employers is like gaining a new business coming in.

•Any other thoughts?

Water will be the limiting factor in growth in the Texas Panhandle. Areas that have seen the largest water decline have also seen the largest population declines. (Floyd County) Providing a stable source of water for prospective new Industrial Growth is mandatory to attracting new business. I think we will have to become very innovative in what we consider sources of available water. An example of this is how do we recycle all of the current discharge from the Plainview Waste Water treatment plant? After major upgrades to this facility in recent years this water source is extremely clean and has more usage available than putting down running water draw.